


Breaking the Fall

by YouCantKeepMeDown



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Wings, Lucifer's Cage, M/M, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 17:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9133948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCantKeepMeDown/pseuds/YouCantKeepMeDown
Summary: When Sam and Lucifer fall into the cage together, not everything is as bad as it looks.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Samifer Love Week on Tumblr. It's just my take on what happened in to cage. (No torture here.)

Sam falls. He falls through darkness and fire, faster and faster, until the force of it rips the air out of his lungs, rips Lucifer’s cold grace from where it had been curled up inside him, making him whole for the first time in his life.  
Light engulfs him, and there’s an impression of wings, before he hurries to close his eyes. It’s bad enough that he’ll spend eternity with Lucifer and Michael in the cage, he doesn’t want his eyes burned out on top of it from seeing the archangel’s true form.  
He hears a sound that’s almost like big wings beating, and someone grabs him, holds him tight. The touch is cold as ice, and Sam struggles, tries to break free.  
„Calm down. I promised to never hurt you.“ The voice hurts his ears, but it’s bearable to his surprise. „Which also means I won’t let you shatter on the ground. Even though you betrayed me.“  
Sam relaxes. They’ve spend enough time sharing one body for him starting to believe that Lucifer never lies.  
But even Lucifer’s wings barely manage to break the fall. He feels the archangel struggling, but it’s as if something’s pulling them down. When they finally hit the ground, it knocks the rest of the air out of his lungs and sends him tumbling away.  
For a while he just lies there, trying to catch his breath. The surface beneath him is cold, feels like metal. His eyelids flutter open, and he sees metal bars all around him. He’s literally in a giant cage.  
He rolls around, getting up on his hands and knees. To his right is a slightly moving form. He recognizes the blond hair, the olive green t-shirt. Lucifer groans.  
Sam staggers to his feet. He can’t see Michael or Adam anywhere, but that’s probably for the best.  
Not far away the devil himself sits up, and Sam blinks, when he sees movement behind his back, like there’s something he can’t quite make out. Something massive. Almost like ...  
„Wings.“  
Lucifer turns towards his voice and frowns. „What?“  
Sam shakes his head. He has to tread careful. For now the archangel doesn’t look particularly mad, but as soon as he remembers that it’s Sam’s fault he’s back down here, there’s no telling what he’ll do. „Nothing. Why are you in Nick’s form again?“  
„Because we’re in hell, and everything you see here is the result of your mind trying to interpret reality in a way that won’t drive you mad.“  
„Where’s Michael?“  
„Somewhere. The cage is bigger than it looks. And my brother probably needs some time to recover, because unlike me he’s not used to falling.“  
Lucifer gets up, and there it is again, the impression of ... something moving behind his back. Something that reaches up to a few feet above his head. Sam squints, and he gets the impression of not just one, but three sets of wing-like froms made of faint light. The longer he looks though, the more they seem frayed and broken.  
„You betrayed me,“ Lucifer says.  
Sam swallows. There they go. „I didn’t. I said yes to letting you in. I never said, I’d let you end the world. And you almost killed Dean.“  
The memory is painful, and Sam shoves it away. He tries to stand his ground, holds the gaze of Lucifer’s pale blue eyes. „I think we’re even.“  
Doesn’t look like the archangel agrees. Lucifer takes one step towards him, not-quite-wings trailing behind him, one of the tips brushing the metal bars of the cage. Lucifer flinches, a small hissing sound falling from his lips.  
Now it’s Sam taking a step forward, before he can even think about it. It’s strange how they’re drawn to each other and how easy it is to forget that this beeing is supposed to be his enemy and most likely means him harm. „What is it?“  
„The fall,“ Lucifer says in a low voice. „Ruined my wings.“  
So it is wings he’s seeing. Sam concentrates on the one that came in contact with the metal bars, and there’s something not quite right about the angle ...  
He points. „Looks like that one is broken.“  
„Yes, I was too busy breaking your fall.“ Lucifer shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans. „Shouldn’t have tried to catch you.“  
„I’m sorry.“ Sam isn’t quite sure what he’s apoligizing for. None of this is his fault. He’d just tried to stop the apocalypse. No one can blame him for that. But he takes another step forward, and now he can see the wings better. They’re not just light, there are dark spots in there, too. Shadows, that hold shards of light together like glue. Like they’ve been broken and mended at least once before. And the upper left wing is droping in a way that doesn’t look right. „Can I touch them?“  
Lucifer scoffs. „Why do you humans have to paw at everything you see?“  
„Ask your father, he made us.“ That was the wrong thing to say, Sam know, even before the words are out of his mouth. Something in Lucifer’s eyes goes dark.  
„It looks like there’s a bone that needs to be set,“ Sam hurries to add. „Or something ...“ He isn’t quite sure, if there are bones in those wings at all. „I could try and help.“  
Lucifer blinks, clearly surprised. Then he shakes his head, snear on his face. „As if a human could help me. You’d just burn your fingers.“  
And that’s a challenge to Sam’s pride he can’t ignore. He closes the gap between them. „I’m your true fucking vessle, Lucifer. You were inside me without burning me up. Let me ...“ He extends a hand, and all words die on his lips. He expected to feel feathers, instead it’s like he’s reached into a low level energy field. Static electricity crackles up his arm.  
„Oh.“  
Lucifer laughs. „You know, I almost admire how you Winchesters always jump head first into situations you barely understand. But if you insist, have a try.“  
His wings become brighter, more tangible, as if he allows Sam to see them now. Three pairs of wings made of light and shadow and red thread that almost looks like fire. There are holes in them, parts of them are barely more than a ragged structure, almost like a skeleton. And Sam can see that the upper left one is clearly broken now.  
He stares. „Oh.“  
„Are you just going to stand there and stare or are you actually going to do something?“  
When Sam blushes and meets Lucifer’s gaze again, there’s the hint of a smile on the archangel’s lips, as if he likes to be admired. He probably does.  
Sam shoves his hand deeper inside the wings. There’s some kind of resistance, something he can wrap his fingers around. A hiss comes from Lucifer.  
„Sorry. Sit down, I can barely reach the upper one.“  
Grumbling the archangel does as he’s told. A grunt of pain, when Sam grabs the broken wing again. He has to be fast now, you don’t set bones slowly, even if the ones here are made of light and energy and maybe not bones at all. He pulls, and Lucifer screams.  
Next thing he knows, Sam’s on his back, Lucifer above him, eyes red instead of blue. One of Lucifer’s hands has grabbed a handful of his shirt, and the other one is raised in a fist like he’s ready to land a blow. He doesn’t move though, and Sam barely dares to breath, while his heart hammers a stakkato in his chest. „Lucifer?“ he asks. „I think ... Your wing should be good now. The angle is right again.“  
Finally the red vanishes from Lucifer’s eyes. He lets his hands fall to his sides, tentatively moves his wings. Sam can see a hint of pain on his face, but the archangel nods. He gets up, extends a hand to Sam, and Sam takes it, allows himself to be dragged to his feet.  
„There are some other parts of my wings that need patching up,“ Lucifer says after a while, and that’s probably the closest thing to a thank you Sam’ll get. „Maybe you could ...“  
„Will you attack me again?“  
The archangel shrugs. „I can’t promise anything. Pain makes me lash out on instict.“ It’s almost an apology. „Did I hurt you?“  
„No.“  
„Good. You don’t have to risk it, if you don’t want to.“  
Sam smiles. „Just tell me, what to do.“  
Maybe eternity in the cage won’t be completely horribly after all.


End file.
